Milton Petrie - the Most Generous Man in the World

Every morning, billionaire Milton Petrie walked from his New York apartment and bought a newspaper from the ragged old man on the street corner. One morning the man wasn`t there. Petrie learned that he was very ill in the city hospital. Immediately he paid his hospital bill and later, when the man died, paid for his funeral.

The old man was just one of many people that Milton Petrie helped with his money. Whenever he read about personal disasters in the newspaper Petrie sent generous cheques, especially to the families of policemen or firemen injured at work. He also sent cheques to a mother who lost five children in a fire, and a beautiful model, whose face was cut in a knife attack. It cost him millions of dollars, but he still had millions left. He said that he was lucky in business and he wanted to help those less fortunate than himself.

Milton Petrie died in 1994, when he was 92. His will was 120 pages long because he left $150 million to 383 people. His widow, Carroll, his fourth and last wife, said his generosity was a result of the poverty of his early years. His family was poor but kindhearted. His father was a Russian immigrant, who became a policeman, but he never arrested anyone, he was too kind. He couldn`t even give a parking ticket.

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